TWITTER: MAKING YOUR OWN PICTURE TWEETS

Making your own Picture tweets…

They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” It’s true. Even the worst picture, whether grotesque or poorly taken, will capture your attention longer than mere words from a text. So, if you want what you have to say to get noticed, resonate with your audience, and be profound, you need to post it in some type of visual form.

Tell. Then breathe…

My biggest frustration on this journey has been my ignorance of technology. Second, would be the lack of information sharing. I’ll find a site that is too cool for words; I’m shaking with excitement as I tell a friend or two about it, and then I hear them say, “Oh yeah…I use that site all the time. I thought you knew about it, Taylor.” Ummm…No, I didn’t.

Well, I’ve found a few and I’m going to share.

I know, I know…It’s probably presumptuous of me to think I can teach anyone anything about social media. It is. So please forgive. But in fulfilling the true purpose of this blog, I want to share what scant bit of knowledge I have acquired with the next “Newbie” out there. Maybe their journey will be a tad bit easier than mine.

So, here goes…

How I make my Picture Tweets…

As I said in my last blog post (Twitter changing the way we tweet pictures) I tweet primarily from my iPad. I’m thoroughly ensconced in Apple products…iPod, iPad, iPhone, iTunes,MacBook. Yes my friends, the I’s have it.

I think the iPad is the easiest way to post to FB, Twitter, and any other social media site. The format was easier for me to learn and my pictures are easier to access. What I’m showing you today involves an iPad, the PicCollage App from iTunes (free application) and the website, Pixabay. But I’m sure there are similar applications to the ones I’m using for those of you who don’t like Apple products.

First…I look for a picture on Pixabay. This site has over 400K pictures and new ones being added everyday. The pics are free for commercial use and no attribution is required.Warning…It’s almost as addictive as Pinterest!

So, I’ve found a pic I want to use…(note the disclaimer on the right side of the pic). *Free for commercial use / No attribution required.

I can’t download on my iPad, so I screenshot the pic, then go to my photo library and edit/crop the picture. You can do the same on your computer and then crop as you like.

You can use the Grids, Templates, or FreeStyle (the latter is what I use).

Tap the screen and a menu box will come up. I want to add photos so I click on the photo icon.

You can choose up to twelve pics at a time to place on the screen from your iPad, your FB page(s), or from the web. I’ve never tried the latter.

I’ve chosen four pictures to use on my tweet; one for background, one as my main picture, my 3-D book cover with black background, and my Amazon logo. Be sure that after you choose your pics, you click on the numbered check mark in the upper right hand corner of the photo library. If you don’t, the pictures will disappear from the screen and you’ll have to choose them again.

The black eyes are used for my black background. If you tap the screen at this point, a menu box will appear with various backgrounds, cropping tools, stickers, and other cool things you can do with the template. I prefer to use my eye pic, as it matches the black border around my 3-D book cover. I just use my fingers to spread the pic until the eyes disappear. And yes, I know there are better uses for my OCD…heehee!

Once you have your background in place (it will cover all the pics on the page) hold you finger on the background and wait for your pics to reappear. When you touch the pic, you can move it where you want it (if you hold down on the pic too long, it will disappear behind the background. If this happens, keep your finger on the background and the pic will reappear). You can enlarge any pic by spreading it with your fingers, or pinch your fingers together and make it smaller.

When the images are where you want them, touch the + at the bottom of the screen and the menu box will appear. Touch the Aa text icon.

The T on the text bar is for your font selection. There are several cool fonts on this app. You can type your text, then change the font by touching the boxes listed to see which you like the best.

The A on the text bar is the color of the font. The same applies…you can click on different colors to see which you like the best.

I use black and white since most of my pics are those colors.

The three dots on the text bar are for text indention. Right margin, centered, and left margin. You can also outline your font by checking the Font outline box (note the white border around the black font in the above picture).

Now all you have to do is size the text to fit on the pic, using your fingers to enlarge the text, or pinch it to make it smaller. The transparent box around the text will disappear when you are finished manipulating the it.

When you are satisfied with the picture and your text, click on the box with the arrow on the bottom right corner of the screen. A white box with share options will appear. Don’t mess with any of the icons in the white box. Your pic has a PicCollage watermark…we need to get rid of it! Click on the check mark in the upper corner of the screen.

Your picture is now saved to your photo library. Your pic has a PicCollage watermark at the bottom which can be removed for free by YOU, though for a fee, PicCollage will do it for you. Umm…No! You can remove it when you edit your pic in your photo library. You’re done with PicCollage till next time.

Now, go to your photo library and find your pic.

See the watermark in the lower corner? All you have to do is edit/crop the watermark from the pic and viola’! You have your picture tweet.

Add your book link, YouTube or iTunes link, or any other link you wish, garnish with some hashtags, and tweet your creation.

This whole process is a lot easier to do than it is to blog about, I assure you. I hope some of you find this useful. It’s taken me three years to move from text tweeting short blurbs from my Amazon page, to copy/pasting text and link only tweets, to finally getting the hang of making my own picture tweets. I have evolved, S.L.O.W.L.Y.

…kicking and screaming the whole way.

Go ahead…Give it a try! Have fun! See what wonderful, inexpensive tweets you can make with these tools. Use them as FB banners, Twitter cards, or quotes from your book (*Note…Don’t place text all over your pic. It defeats the purpose of the pic. Less is more…). Believe me, this process is so easy you can’t do it wrong. If you don’t like what you’ve created, delete it and start over. No harm, no foul. Be adventurous and creative. You’ll be surprised how creative you really are, and how great your tweets turn out.

Anyway, I hope you’ll find this useful and share with others. With so much of the traditional world against us, Indies need to stick together and help each other when we can.

Great tutorial. I tried it for the first time last week (came out okay, but not as nice as yours, so the tips here were great. The biggest problem I had was overall sizing. I was guessing and had to keep tweaking. Still not sure how to get that exactly right. One nice thing is that the images work great for FB too!

You can download images to your photo app buy tapping on the image so it opens in a new window (this step may not be necessary) and then holding your finger on the image until you see a message that offers you the option to copy or save the image. With Pixabay you just need to hold on the image. Select save the image and it will appear in your camera roll. You can then edit it with any image editor you want. I use PhotoShop Touch but PicCollage and others work just as well.

Reblogged this on Wind Eggs and commented:
Let me add one correction to this otherwise excellent post:

You don’t need to take a screenshot of the image you want and then crop. You simply need to hold your finger on the image until you see a dialogue asking to save the image or copy it. Select save and it will be saved to your camera roll.

If you don’t see the dialogue, you may have to open the image in it’s own window first.

You can then edit the image with PicCollage or any other image editing program. I use PhotoShop (PS) Touch.

This was such a great tutorial but I don’t dare tweet. Already fairly overwhelmed, Christoph! 🙂 Hope you have a great Sunday and Thanksgiving coming soon. I work 10 hours today to get Friday after T day off! Ugh!